Learning How To Lower Your Small Business Taxes

It’s about finding the right match

Recently the USA Today published an article with the astounding headline: “20 big profitable U.S. companies paid no taxes.” Say what? That sounds ludicrous.

Immediately, you may think, well, those big companies have people working to reduce their tax burden full-time, there’s no way I could afford to hire someone to manage my books that well. I’m here to say, don’t ever think that way. The tools to pay fewer taxes on your business are well within reach. Knowledge is king and let me shed some light here.

While it’s true that big business do have their internal team or tax department working full time at lowering their business taxes. The good news is all the strategies available to the big businesses are available to small business owners.

It is all about you finding the tax professional that specializes in lowering small business taxes. Just like chiropractors specialize in back issues, firms like Karla Dennis And Associates, Inc.™ really understand the day-to-day of running a small business. After all, I personally have gone through building my business from the ground up.

These are my tips for finding the right match to help lower your taxes on your business:

• The tax professional will want to understand your past small business taxes.  They will review your history to gather a good understanding of your unique situation. Once they have clarity on the past history, they are going to want to get a baseline of where you are today. They will dig in and get to know exactly what shape your small business taxes are in.
• The tax professional will have a strong sense of the tax calendar year. Having current information within the year allows for an opportunity to implement the right course of action before the year closes on December 31. If you are waiting and only looking at your small business taxes after the close of the year, you are losing cash and your small business tax bill will be higher than it should be. If you want to keep more of your cash in your pocket, then lowering your business taxes must happen within the year. January to April 15^th is tax compliance season.  This is when tax professionals prepare tax returns based on past information.  The real action steps happen with in the year from May 1^st through December 3.
• Your tax professional will put together the right course of action for you to take during the year. Once you are on the right track, you will continue to course correct and stay in the conversation with your tax professional all year long. If you follow this proactive tax planning, you won’t end up the Tax Emergency Room come April 15th.

Lastly, choose a tax professional that fits your company culture. Just like choosing a medical professional, it’s very important that you feel comfortable and trust the person that handles your taxes. Are they reassuring? Do they try to give you a guilt trip? Do they speak in terms that are easy for you to understand?

Karla Dennis

As seen in Forbes Magazine, Karla Dennis is an expert tax and business strategist. As an enrolled agent, Karla is licensed to represent taxpayers in all 50 states. She holds a Masters in Taxation and Business Development and is the author of two books, Tax Storm and Against the Odds.

Karla, CEO of consultancy firm Karla Dennis And Associates, Inc.™, has saved her clients thousands of dollars and has been featured in various media outlets such as Forbes, MSNBC, KTLA, Yahoo! Finance, and SmartMoney, marking her as the ultimate tax expert.

As of 2014, Karla became the new host on the “Mind Your Business” radio show, KTLK AM 1150, sharing her financial and business knowledge with the greater Orange County and Los Angeles areas. As a supporter of women’s rights and issues, Karla is part of the Women Network, an organization built to educate and mentor women. In addition, Karla is the radio host for Women Network Radio, a show that aims to uplift and empower women of all walks of life.